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This book provides the hitherto disregarded development of the principle of angular momentum, and aims at reconstructing its inception by analyzing Euler's relevant publications and correspondence, and using his unpublished manuscripts and notebook records. The derivation of the equations of motion for rigid body rotation is one of Euler's main achievements in mechanics and celestial mechanics. It enabled the foundation of later developments that became known as the angular momentum theorem or, as it is called here, the principle of angular momentum (PAM). Along with Euler's first mathematical formulation of “Newton's law of motion,” called the linear momentum theorem or the principle of linear momentum (PLM), modern historiography of science assigned these principles to Euler, honoring him by calling them “Euler's principles or laws of mechanics.” However, the history behind these principles, in particular the developing and establishing processes of PAM, remained in darkness until now. This is probably why Euler's achievements commonly are still subsumed in “Newtonian physics” or even labeled with it. A good deal of Euler's original documents relevant for unearthing these processes are presented and translated here for the first time.

This book provides the hitherto disregarded development of the principle of angular momentum, and aims at reconstructing its inception by analyzing Euler's relevant publications and correspondence, and using his unpublished manuscripts and notebook records. The derivation of the equations of motion for rigid body rotation is one of Euler's main achievements in mechanics and celestial mechanics. It enabled the foundation of later developments that became known as the angular momentum theorem or, as it is called here, the principle of angular momentum (PAM). Along with Euler's first mathematical formulation of “Newton's law of motion,” called the linear momentum theorem or the principle of linear momentum (PLM), modern historiography of science assigned these principles to Euler, honoring him by calling them “Euler's principles or laws of mechanics.” However, the history behind these principles, in particular the developing and establishing processes of PAM, remained in darkness until now. This is probably why Euler's achievements commonly are still subsumed in “Newtonian physics” or even labeled with it. A good deal of Euler's original documents relevant for unearthing these processes are presented and translated here for the first time.

Diese Gesamtdarstellung von Leonhard Eulers Arbeiten zur Himmelsmechanik zeigt, wie sich bei ihm mathematische Methoden und physikalische Prinzipien bei den Lösungen himmelsmechanischer Probleme entwickelten, sukzessive etablierten und sich durch vielseitige Anwendungen zu Standardverfahren entwickelten, die in der klassischen Astronomie und Physik noch heute gültig sind. In einem einleitenden Kapitel werden bekannte und neu entdeckte Originalquellen und Publikationen beschrieben, deren Autorschaft Euler zugewiesen werden konnte. Das zweite Kapitel führt in kompakter Weise in die Entwicklung der Problemstellungen der Zeit sowie in Eulers Lösungsmethoden ein. Im dritten und vierten Kapitel werden Eulers Beiträge zur Himmelsmechanik punktförmiger und ausgedehnter Körper nach Inhalt und Entstehungschronologie beschrieben. Der umfangreiche Anhang besteht aus Übersichtstabellen und deutschen Übersetzungen einzelner Werke Eulers zur Himmelsmechanik.

Als Beispiel sei die gravitative Wirkung der Venus auf die Erdbahn erwähnt.Von grosser praktischer Bedeutung, insbesondere für die Navigation auf See, war die Untersuchung des Einflusses der Sonne auf die Mondbewegung.